


A new resolve

by cybersewisteria (linkedvrains)



Series: Event Stories [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, Post Season 3, Secret Santa 2019, but it's easily to over read I guess, implied Datastorm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:42:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21936901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/linkedvrains/pseuds/cybersewisteria
Summary: [YGO Secret Santa 2019] But destiny never really had been on Ryokens side ever since the day he had followed his father into the forest. So he had actually expected Yusaku to turn around to him at one point. He even had tried to prepare himself for being faced with possibly empty eyes again. And like always when Yusaku was involved… he failed.
Relationships: Fujiki Yuusaku & Revolver | Kougami Ryouken, Fujiki Yuusaku/Revolver | Kougami Ryouken
Series: Event Stories [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1549054
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	A new resolve

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ToxicTraitor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxicTraitor/gifts).



> So this is my entry to the YGO Secret Santa event 2019 : )  
> I'm actually surprised I managed to finish this story in time because the last few weeks were a mess and with me being at hospital most of the time... but yeah well. A big thanks to Yoz for proofreading and helping me with grammar things >.< As well as keeping me motivated when I wanted to scratch this whole idea x'D 
> 
> Dear comeandbyteme // ToxicTraitor,  
> I wish you a really, really nice Christmas and a happy new year :D  
> I hope I could make you a little joy with this story and that you'll like it. 
> 
> To all the others, merry Christmas as well :)

Yusaku couldn't tell how much time had passed since he had logged out of Link Vrains. Since that last fateful duel against Ai had ended. A small part of him realized that he was _cold_. It wasn't that warm in the factory Ai had decided to be their last meeting point and the android body he still was pressing against his chest wasn't spending any warmth anymore for all too long. Even Ai's appearance had disappeared already. All that was left were the all too fancy clothes that were just so much like Ai. In the end he couldn't even tell what exactly had pulled him out of the state of nothing he had found himself into after his partner had died. It took him a while and a lot of concentration to remember. 

_Footsteps_. 

There was someone else around this place. 

And yet.... Yusaku wasn't really feeling scared by it. Or anything close to feeling uneasy. Maybe he was too _tired_ for it. Well he probably was too tired for a long time, but it probably wasn't what mattered in this moment. It more was the part that he could only recall one person knowing about this place and about him being here. And that person was the one that despite everything that had happened between and around them always had gotten most of Yusakus trust. Probably _always_ would. 

"...Ryoken." he decided to speak out before the older one could. He didn't turn around. Didn't changed his position, still holding the lifeless android with his eyes directed out to the ocean. 

The other one had stopped at the call of his name. It was still an strange feeling to be called like that from the younger one. Ever since their paths had met again all those months ago... the younger one always had referred to him by his VR name. Like most of the people in his life did. There only had been _one_ situation where he had used his real name and that was shortly before he had left him behind. And if Ryoken was honest to himself... he hadn't planned on coming back at that moment. 

It had been a farewell and it had meant to be _final_. But then hours had passed and he was feeling more and more uneasy and once Spectre and the others had woken up again... Ryoken had started to become restless. He couldn't really describe why but with every minute passing by that he couldn't spot Yusaku on the security camera feeds around the food truck the feeling of something being wrong had grown stronger and stronger. 

Playmaker... Yusaku couldn't have lost. The others wouldn't have woken up if he had. But yet there wasn't any sign of Yusaku anywhere. Neither around the hot dog truck nor around his home or the one of Homura. And at some point Ryoken hadn't been able to pretend he wasn't worried anymore. And so he ended up here. In the facility he had seen Yusaku walk into several hours, if not a whole day, ago. And actually... there the teen was. Sitting in the middle of various SOLtis bodies wearing the dark Ignis clothes, clinging to a single SOLtis that probably had been his partner up until before the duel had started. 

Ryoken wasn't sure what to feel about this picture. And part of him just wanted to run away again before Yusaku even noticed that he was here. But at the moment the other one had spoken out his name Ryoken knew that running wouldn't solve anything. 

The voice of the other one sounded so empty. _Broken_. It reminded him of a time he tried to forget so hard and at the same time didn't allowed himself to forget at all. He really had hoped that the younger one wouldn't end up like this anymore. That he would grew out of it. Be able to overcome this. 

This moment showed him all to clear that no matter how much Yusaku had seemed like he had moved on he still was that broken and scared child that had been forced to fight a war way too often. It had been a mistake to put the burden of fighting the dark Ignis on the others shoulders as well, but Ryoken was rather well aware of the fact that there hadn't been any possibility in which it hadn't been Yusaku to fight the finale duel. Which was neither a good excuse to let all of this happen nor one to let the other one suffer like that alone again. 

A sigh left the older ones lips, as he stopped a few meters behind the younger one, wondering if - if the younger one would turn around to him - his green eyes would be as empty as they had been back then. Somehow he wished for never finding out. But destiny never really had been on Ryokens side ever since the day he had followed his father into the forest. So he had actually expected Yusaku to turn around to him at one point. He even had tried to prepare himself for being faced with possibly empty eyes again. And like always when Yusaku was involved… he  _ failed _ . 

Because nothing could prepare him for the moment their eyes met. And again Ryoken wondered if there really had been any chance that hadn’t involved Yusaku fighting this on his own. There probably was not. 

But he was here  _ now _ , right? 

“Yusaku.” he replied eventually. He didn’t need to add much more. There wasn’t even much in his tone either. And yet Ryoken could more or less watch how the expression of the other one changed. How those empty eyes start to sparkle again. Ryoken couldn’t help but wonder why _he_ was that person in the younger ones life. How he deserved this despite everything he had done. All the pain he had caused for not only the other one. 

“Are the others…” Yusaku started, but stopped again soon enough. Ryoken wasn’t sure why exactly he stopped, but at least he knew what the younger one was mostly likely about to ask to. 

“They all woke up. They’re okay.” 

Because of course Yusaku needed to know that. It didn’t made the pain of losing Ai any better. It didn’t take away the pain of what had happened here. But at least it showed him that it hadn’t been in vain. He hadn’t lost  _ everything _ . 

“That’s…good.” Yusaku replied after a while, but somehow his voice sounded like anything but good. His eyes wandered back to the android that still lay lifeless in his arms and something about this whole picture hurt Ryoken in a way he failed to explain. Of course it was good. The Ignis finally were gone. Humanity  _ safe _ . But Yusaku didn’t looked like he had won the fight. And maybe it was because honestly… he had not. He might won the duel, but the real fight… the one about saving those important to him. That one was  _ lost _ . 

For a moment the silence stood between, with neither of them knowing what to say. Their opinions about the whole Ignis topic was the exact opposite of each other so there wasn't much reassuring Ryoken found himself able to say. Even after all those years Yusaku was a weak point of his. He couldn't stand to see him suffer and yet it was always  _ him _ who seemed to be involved in the others suffering one way or another. 

"What will you do now?" he found himself asking after a while without really planning to. The words just slipped his lips as the silence had become too much for him. And despite the fact that Ryoken still tried to convince everyone and mostly himself that he would walk away from this and never looks back to Yusaku ever again, he still couldn't deny that yeah.he was really curious about what Yusaku planned to do now. Would he finally be able to leave the past behind? To start a new life? 

For a moment the face of the younger one was blank, but it only took him a few seconds till pure determination Ryoken knew all too well started to shine in those bright green eyes. 

Ryoken was already convinced that he wouldn't actually  _ like _ what the other one was going to say now, but he really preferred that expression compared to the empty, hurt one. 

"I'm going to find Ai." 

Wait. "What?" he actually couldn't stop himself from asking that out aloud. His eyes wandered down to the lifeless Android still in Yusaku's arms. He had thought the Ignis was  _ gone _ . After all the others had returned. Yusaku had won. And yet… 

"He's somewhere out there. I might not know where and how but I will find him and bring him back home." 

There were a lot of things Ryoken could have answered to that. After all he was rather sure that he wasn't the only one having conflicted feelings about a possible return of the Ignis. He couldn't deny that he had went soft on him at some point, creating Pandor to give him ways to escape. But Ai had went too far. And he was rather sure that the Zaizen siblings and Homura weren't thinking that different. 

And yet here was Yusaku, seemingly broken a few minutes ago suddenly shining again in determination after he found a new purpose. The older one really wasn't sure if he should like this turn of events. 

"After everything he did you still want to give him a chance?" he asked, a tone in his voice he couldn't understand himself. The question probably was unnecessary anyways. Ryoken was rather well aware of all the things he had done in the past. The hurt he not only brought to the other one but so many others as well. And yet Yusaku was still chasing after him, offering a path, a future over and over again no matter how many times he had declined. Maybe he really shouldn't be surprised that Yusaku was not only giving him but the Ignis a second chance. 

"It's my fault." the younger one replied and Ryoken found himself blinking in surprise. He could probably point out a few more people responsible besides the dark Ignis but Yusaku never had been on that list. "Ho?" 

For a moment he thought that Yusaku wasn't going to add anything to that statement. The younger ones attention had went back to the android in his arms before he carefully placed him on the ground and got up back to his feet. Yet he wasn't facing Ryoken, but let his eyes wander over the ocean in front of them. 

"Ai planned for this outcome because it was his plan to die at my hands from the beginning." 

Yusakus voice was quiet. Barely a whisper and if it hadn't been this quiet around them Ryoken probably had missed it. It caused him to frown slightly, a few questions on his mind but he didn't ask any of it, instead waited what else the other one had to say. 

Yusaku seemed like he was searching for the right words a bit longer before he shook his head again. 

"He's an idiot. He made those stupid simulations as well and fell for them." 

Well that was surprising, wasn't it? Looking back at the past Ryoken couldn't help but notice that neither of them had been here if those simulations hadn't existed in the first place." What did he see? " he ask with a calm voice. Part of him might be aware of the answer at this point. Because he had done those simulations as well. Unlike his father he hadn't done it with the six Ignis as a whole but for each of it and eventually he had come across those that ended in humanity dying at a single AIs hand caused by the death of a single person. But at that point the Ignis still had been together and he had found himself in a position where he wanted to believe Playmaker that there was a future where humans and AI could live together. 

Seems like he had been wrong. 

"My death. Countless times no matter how much he tried to prevent it from happen. He went so desperate because he had to watch me die. I want… I need to find him to show him those simulations were wrong." 

In the end he Ryoken really couldn't say he was surprised by it. It probably was just how Yusaku was. He couldn't help but smile about the determination the other seemed to have found again. 

" I guess I won't be able to stop you. " 

Yusaku blinked a bit surprised before turning around to him. Frowning slightly once he was met with his smile. 

"You could try but… I haven't changed my mind. I'm still convinced there's a future for us.  _ All  _ of us." 

They had been at this point so often. Every single time Ryoken had denied the other one, hadn't allowed himself the possibility. And yet… it was the first time he couldn't find anything to say against it. 

"Well I'll wait for your return then. So you can show me that future of yours." 

There are a was a short flash of surprise in Yusaku's eyes before a smile appeared on his face as well. 

"I will." 


End file.
